Northeastern University College Republicans (NUCR) recently wrote a Letter to the Editor complaining that the Northeastern University College Democrats (NUCD) have been clamping down on political discourse on campus by declining offers to have debates with their organization. Their External Vice President Patrick O’Neil goes as far to claim that their “requests have fallen on deaf ears.” Don’t let their accusations fool you. We have heard their requests, and we have politely turned them down and offered them other ideas in lieu of a debate.
The reason that I, and previous presidents of NUCD, have turned down debate offers from NUCR is because that we have begun considering alternate ways of engaging the student body. This idea that we should keep tradition for the sake of tradition, and “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is a logical fallacy that results in wasted resources when better alternative policies may be available. In this case, better alternative policies such as voter registration drives, bringing in speakers and co-sponsoring and promoting political events on campus are available; we have been working with NUCR and other political groups on campus to put on these events.
O’Neil claims that on-campus debates “could have been a major turning point in [students’] understanding of key issues.” He is not wrong. Debates can be important forums for political discourse, however, we at NUCD have found that our on campus debates remain largely unattended by students beyond the e-boards of the involved organizations. Furthermore, rather than academic, theoretical or policy-oriented debates conducted in a respectful and orderly manner, these debates inevitably devolve into raucous name-calling sessions which foster not productive discourse, but rather partisanship and animosity. This is not the spirit in which NUCD prefers to engage fellow students.
We appreciate NUCR’s diligent efforts to advocate on campus and successfully represent themselves to NU students. We want to thank them for their offers to debate, and once again, respectfully decline in favor of other, more productive, respectful and mutually beneficial forums.
– Nicholas Beek is president of the Northeastern University College Democrats and a senior political science major.
